My girlfriend and I are doing our first brew together. She has brewed before w/her brother and I have never done it before. We chose a Dunkel out of the Joy of Brewing book. She has done some from this book before and they were all very yummy!

We have finished the initial process and are ready to ferment... but the recipe says to ferment somewhere from 2-4 weeks. How do we determine exactly? Is it related to the balling reading?

Hi. After a week the beer is usually calmed, with not so much activity. Do you have a range for the final gravity? (balling) Check the beer after a week or two. Once you keep getting the same reading the beer is done. I usually have three readings that are the same to know when to bottle. Hope that helps.